Hello 
community,
As part of our effort to optimize the Pollination recipes we are compiling all the existing radiation and irradiance recipes into two recipes:
- pollination/radiation: Use the radiation recipe to calculate cumulative radiation (kWh/m2) and average radiation (kWh/m2).
- pollination/irradiance: Use the irradiance recipe to calculate average irradiance (W/m2), peak irradiance (W/m2), and cumulative radiation (kWh/m2) as well as returning the timestep values.
As part of the transition, we will also deprecate all the existing radiation and irradiance recipes under the ladybug-tools account. If you are currently using the recipes for an app or a project, you should consider switching to these new recipes.
Radiation
radiation
The new radiation recipe is replacing the cumulative-radiation recipe. The default version of the new recipe returns the cumulative radiation and average radiation for each sensor point. To get the visualization you have to use the -viz tag.
- Use cases: Can be used to approximate the energy that can be collected from PV systems.
radiation-express
The -express tag is a new recipe that uses ladybug-radiance, and it is similar to the LBT LB Incident Radiation component. The express recipe will remove some of the overhead of the honeybee-radiance based recipes. One of the biggest differences is that the express version needs a study mesh and/or context mesh in Ladybug Geometry format, while the honeybee-radiance based recipe needs a Honeybee Model with sensor grids. A limitation of the express recipe is that it will only give a zero-bounce radiation calculation.
- Use cases: A zero-bounce cumulative radiation to quickly get a sense of the results.
You can see the different tags and their output in the table below.
| Tag | Cumulative radiation (kWh/m2) | Average radiation (kWh/m2) | Visualization |
|---|---|---|---|
x.y.z |
 |
|
 |
x.y.z-viz |
|
|
|
x.y.z-express |
|
|
|
You can find sample runs on Pollination here: radiation-viz and radiation-express.
Irradiance
irradiance
The new irradiance recipe is replacing the annual-irradiance recipe. The default version of the new recipe returns the average irradiance, peak irradiance, and cumulative radiation for each sensor point. To get the visualization you have to use the -viz tag. It accounts for bounces and models direct sun accurately.
- Use cases: Since it models direct sun accurately it is suitable for thermal comfort or peak solar studies.
irradiance-express
The express version of this recipe is replacing the sky-irradiance recipe. The difference between the default and the express version is that the express version uses the total sky, whereas the default version uses the accurate sun position to model the direct sun.
- Use cases: Use this for a quicker calculation of timestep irradiance values when the accuracy of direct sun is not important, e.g., if context geometry is limited, or to get a sense of the irradiance at each timestep.
You can see the different tags and their output in the table below.
| Tag | Timestep values | Average irradiance (W/m2) | Peak irradiance (W/m2) | Cumulative radiation (kWh/m2) | Visualization |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
x.y.z |
|
|
|
|
|
x.y.z-viz |
|
|
|
|
|
x.y.z-express |
|
|
|
|
|
You can find sample runs on Pollination here: irradiance-viz and irradiance-express.
Happy Pollinating!